Thoughts.

My computer died on friday and it took me a few days, and a few mental breakdowns, to get it all back together. I had no time to create anything, but spent a lot of time thinking. After my computer died I made a notebook specifically for my thesis....





I got paranoid. This is the beginning of my process book. I will write all my notes in it, cut and paste any images I create in it, and essentially have it be a rough copy of my process book.

I started thinking of using my "habitual chaos" title and creating a series of works of art that make people notice habits. all titled "Habitual _______". (i.e habitual categorizing, habitual advertising, habitual vices).

John emailed me plenty of comments/info. and I made a few notes.. they probably wont make too much sense but this is where I am...

• I think that I mis-worded my proposal and therefore it was misunderstood
• I'm not trying to "breakthrough" habit. More make people aware, but I have no solution to solve habits. I'm looking at various habits and trying to make people aware of them.
• I think that habit is a beneficial part of life. It does allow people to do things well..."practice makes perfect" .. but, I think that we need to challenge our brains and not stick to the same things in order to grow.
• I need to look at "chunking" more. I only read about it in one book and I need more information. (I'll look into John's suggestions)
• "get us to reflect on habit in our lives, what it offers, what it conceals" ----- John. That's what I'm trying to do.
• John also asked me to look at the relationship of design and chaos:
• i liked this article/quote that i found:
  When the primary material for thinking is limited to a small series of ideas, things seems to be in order, the world looks simple, the solution near : idea 1 + idea 2 = idea 3. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it is never that simple. Simplicity is not the first phase of a project but the very last one. Let's reflect on what Steve Jobs said
• “When you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple, you don’t really understand the complexity of the problem. Then you get into the problem, and you see that it’s really complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle, and that’s where most people stop… But the really great person will keep on going and find the key, the underlying principle of the problem — and come up with an elegant, really beautiful solution that works.“
• In design, if you want to reach a certain level of quality - or simply exist -, you need to go through complexity, chaos. It is a necessary step where you might feel lost for a moment. Things start to be confusing, you have too much stuff on the table, you're not sure anymore that these inputs make any sense. Be reassured, that's a good thing, you're on the right path. Actually, you don't really have a choice: it seems that complexity naturally evolves from any ordered system.

I guess I meant that "chaos" is a disruption of "the normal" Anything that breaks habit, to me, is "chaos." A disruption in 'habit' forces man kind to create new solutions, new ways of living or thinking, and thus move "forward" (perhaps a better term is adapt?")


I also spent some time working on my website. It doesn't directly relate to my thesis, but my goal is to have a website I'm proud of up and running by the time of my show.